Kirksville loses to Boonville in homecoming game, 42-26

KIRKSVILLE - Kirksville Tiger coach Jeff Jacques said the Tigers just have to keep their heads up following Friday night's 42-26 loss to Boonville.

"There is nothing else to do but keep grinding," he said. "Our kids will continue to do that."

Untimely turnovers sent Kirksville to its fourth straight loss.

Boonville parlayed two fumbles into 13 points and returned the second-half kickoff for a touchdown to earn a win over Kirksville.

Boonville scored on its first possession on a 33-yard halfback pass from Kelsey Callaway to Damario Walker with Jacob Francis' point-after making the score 7-0. The score came after Mitch Kriegshauser and Scott Schwend missed connections on a handoff and the Pirates recovered on their own 46-yard line.

Another costly turnover came in the fourth quarter with Kirksville trailing Boonville 28-20 when Jonathan Broce fumbled a punt and Boonville recovered on the Kirksville 10-yard line. Callaway scored two plays later and that widened the Boonville lead to 34-20.

The Pirates led 21-20 late in the first half when Kirksville (2-4, 0-4 North Central Missouri Conference) drove down to the Boonville 20 with two minutes left. The drive stalled when Kriegshauser was intercepted in the endzone by Gus Kemp.

Jacques said the turnovers changed the game.

"The turnover bug bit us," he said. "There wasn't any breakdowns on our part. We gave a heck of an effort. I was proud of what we did. We just didn't get the win."

Boonville coach Devin Brown said forcing turnovers along with making big plays were huge in the Pirate (3-3, 2-1) win.

"We gave up some big plays, but we made some big plays too," Brown said. "We gave Kirksville some different looks. We try to do that in each game we play."

Callaway finished with 155 yards on 17 carries with four rushing touchdowns in addition to his touchdown pass. Walker returned the opening kickoff of the second half 81 yards for a touchdown.

"We just didn't step up on defense, we gave up too many points and yards," he said.

Kriegshauser scored on runs of one and 10 yards in the first half. He completed 63 percent (12-of-19) of his passes for 101 yards. Kriegshauser was shaken up on the first series of the second half and didn't return.

"Mitch played a good first half," Jacques said. "He made a lot of good decisions."

Blake Riley dashed 18 yards for a touchdown in the first half. Makenna Cook replaced Kriegshauser and scored a touchdown with 3:56 remaining that sliced the Boonville lead to 34-26. Cook also completed 4-of-5 passes for 73 yards.